3 ms·

And [Home] without jumping to select column A, and the arrow keys should work consistently instead of sometimes moving the cursor and sometimes inserting a cell

And [Home] without jumping to select column A, and the arrow keys should work consistently instead of sometimes moving the cursor and sometimes inserting a cell selection.

sokoloff 4y ago
@airstrike gave me the following very helpful clue when I complained about this a couple years ago: "Just hit F2 while editing a formula to toggle between Edit and Enter modes, one of which will behave as you expect. The other mode, which you hate, is very useful when you want to add references to other cells into your formula"* There is a designation in the lower left of the window to show whether you're in Edit or Enter mode. * https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26388148 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26388148
- function_seven 4y ago
  THANK YOU. This doesn't fix my original gripe, but it solves another one I've had. When doing conditional formatting rules, I thought I was stuck with a "dangerous" arrow key. F2 works in those boxes as well to let me position the cursor instead of clobbering my formatting rule with cell references.
- LeifCarrotson 4y ago
  Ah, I usually begin editing a pre-existing cell by tapping F2, but sometimes when I start entering a formula from scratch I just hit the "equals" sign. It feels like I'm editing a line of text but I'm actually in "enter" mode. Also, the little designation in the lower left has been there, roughly 30 inches from my eyeballs, for hundreds or possibly thousands of hours. It's changed state thousands if not millions of times. How have I only just now seen it? https://i.imgur.com/6yrULDU.png https://i.imgur.com/6yrULDU.png The poor programmer at Microsoft who invented the mode switching feature would be justifiably infuriated by the blindness of his users...
  - sokoloff 4y ago
    > How have I only just now seen it? Haha. I'm in the same boat. When writing my comment, I opened Excel, clicked on a cell, and tapped F2 repeatedly, just to see if there was anything on the screen that changed...
layer8 4y ago
Arrow keys: That’s actually consistent, F2 toggles the two modes (Enter and Edit), and the current mode is indicated in the status bar. See for example https://www.omnisecu.com/excel/worksheet/excel-cell-modes-ready-edit-enter-point.php https://www.omnisecu.com/excel/worksheet/excel-cell-modes-re.... It’s a bit like Vim modes.
- IIsi50MHz 4y ago
  > That's actually consistent, Not consistent with any program I know onWindows, Linux, macOS, or even ye olde Macintosh System Software, unless you count spreadsheet programs that are trying to be more like Excel. Not even consistent inside Excel, because there are many edit fields that default to "evil mode" (my personal feeling about "insert cell references when arrows keys are pressed, and disable Undo", while some default to "normal text editing mode", and some cannot be placed in "evil mode". I'd like a visual indicator on or adjacent to the text box, and setting to force it to default to one mode or the other.

And [Home] without jumping to select column A, and the arrow keys should work consistently instead of sometimes moving the cursor and sometimes inserting a cell selection.

sokoloff 4y ago

@airstrike gave me the following very helpful clue when I complained about this a couple years ago: "Just hit F2 while editing a formula to toggle between Edit and Enter modes, one of which will behave as you expect. The other mode, which you hate, is very useful when you want to add references to other cells into your formula"* There is a designation in the lower left of the window to show whether you're in Edit or Enter mode. * https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26388148 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26388148

function_seven 4y ago
THANK YOU. This doesn't fix my original gripe, but it solves another one I've had. When doing conditional formatting rules, I thought I was stuck with a "dangerous" arrow key. F2 works in those boxes as well to let me position the cursor instead of clobbering my formatting rule with cell references.
LeifCarrotson 4y ago
Ah, I usually begin editing a pre-existing cell by tapping F2, but sometimes when I start entering a formula from scratch I just hit the "equals" sign. It feels like I'm editing a line of text but I'm actually in "enter" mode. Also, the little designation in the lower left has been there, roughly 30 inches from my eyeballs, for hundreds or possibly thousands of hours. It's changed state thousands if not millions of times. How have I only just now seen it? https://i.imgur.com/6yrULDU.png https://i.imgur.com/6yrULDU.png The poor programmer at Microsoft who invented the mode switching feature would be justifiably infuriated by the blindness of his users...
- sokoloff 4y ago
  > How have I only just now seen it? Haha. I'm in the same boat. When writing my comment, I opened Excel, clicked on a cell, and tapped F2 repeatedly, just to see if there was anything on the screen that changed...

layer8 4y ago

Arrow keys: That’s actually consistent, F2 toggles the two modes (Enter and Edit), and the current mode is indicated in the status bar. See for example https://www.omnisecu.com/excel/worksheet/excel-cell-modes-ready-edit-enter-point.php https://www.omnisecu.com/excel/worksheet/excel-cell-modes-re.... It’s a bit like Vim modes.

IIsi50MHz 4y ago
> That's actually consistent, Not consistent with any program I know onWindows, Linux, macOS, or even ye olde Macintosh System Software, unless you count spreadsheet programs that are trying to be more like Excel. Not even consistent inside Excel, because there are many edit fields that default to "evil mode" (my personal feeling about "insert cell references when arrows keys are pressed, and disable Undo", while some default to "normal text editing mode", and some cannot be placed in "evil mode". I'd like a visual indicator on or adjacent to the text box, and setting to force it to default to one mode or the other.